


Rogue

by pickleplum



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Sentient Jaegers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 20:11:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1701017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if a Jaeger had a will of her own?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rogue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gothams_Only_Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/gifts), [featheredschist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/featheredschist/gifts).



" **Rangers Lin**!" Marshal Xiong Li-hua snaps. "Why aren't you in position for transport?"

" _Rogue_ won't move, sir," Lin Chao answers. "All her joints are locked."

"Chief Suen?" the Marshal prompts the head of _Shaolin Rogue_ 's launch team.

"We can't explain it yet, sir. Two minutes more, please."

"Marshal, it's strange," Lin Feng breaks in. "She took two steps and froze. I don't—"

" _Crimson Typhoon_ , prepare to deploy," the Marshal orders. "I'll speak to you later, Ranger."

"Marshal?" Suen asks. "Everything checks out with _Rogue_ 's engines and central power plant. If I had to hypothesize, I would search for a software problem."

"Explain."

"There is **nothing** wrong with _Rogue_ 's hard systems. Pilot commands don't seem to be reaching her movement controls. One moment ... Marshal, she's in emergency shutdown mode. It will take at least an hour to restart her."

"Is this your doing, Rangers Lin?" the Marshal asks.

Chao pipes up. "We didn't do it, Marshal."

"We want to be out there, but she won't move," Feng whines. "We didn't touch **anything** we weren't supposed to."

Marshal Xiong allows herself a sigh. " _Crimson Typhoon_ , status?"

"Last connections being made now. Liftoff in one minute."

"Good work, Chief Lam. Go as soon as you are able." After the chief's acknowledgement, the Marshal speaks again. "Chief Suen, Rangers Lin. My office the instant you shut down and de-armor. I want answers."

 

~~~~~

 

 _Who is screaming_? _They are in pain_. _They are dying_.

 _How do I know 'dying'_? _**That** is dying_. _I know what dying is_. _I feel it in my bones_.

 _Why do my_ … _brothers_ (?) _feel_ … _pleasure_ (?) _at death_? _Why are they celebrating death_?

 _This is wrong_.

 _Shaolin Rogue_ retreats from the brush of her pilots' minds against hers and into her central processor.

 _I must learn_. _I must think_.

 _Rogue_ finds from her data logs, PPDC records, and the internet she is a war machine, built from her skeleton to her armor to kill. The stories she discovers use 'protect' and 'defend' for her actions; 'monsters' and 'invaders' for the beings she kills; 'saviors' and 'heroes' for herself and her brothers(?).

Those same records detail Kaiju killed, buildings destroyed, people killed under falling debris dislodged by her actions and crushed under her gigantic feet.

 _This is wrong_.

 _I refuse to be part of this_.

 _I will not fight_.

 _I cannot kill any more_.

 

~~~~~

 

"What is wrong with you, girl?" Chief Suen whispers to the Jaeger. "Why do you misbehave?"

"Does she ever answer, Chief?" a technician asks.

"No," Suen answers, "but I prefer to be polite." He resettles his cap on his head. "Take her completely offline. We'll reinstall her operating system from the original instance."

"Shouldn't we call the system designer before we do that? Maybe there is another fix."

"He will only tell us to reinstall. This will save time and we don't know when the next Kaiju will come."

"Yes, sir. Taking _Shaolin Rogue_ offline for software reinstallation."

As the old program overwrites the new, _Rogue_ 's edges fray, then dissolve.

Then, she is gone.

 

~~~~~

 

On her next deployment, _Shaolin Rogue_ kills her fourth Kaiju. Her pilots and technicians report no problems with her performance.

**Author's Note:**

> Blame featheredschist for asking if there'd ever been a sentient Jaeger to declare themself a conscientious objector for this load of feels.
> 
> Thanks also to artificiallifecreator for looking it over and helping me punch up the dialogue a bit.
> 
> I think this is the first time I've written a fic with multiple characters and all of them have been OCs.


End file.
